Rs 800 cr seized in raids on senior Andhra transport dept official

A senior transport department official in Andhra Pradesh has been arrested by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) for possessing assets disproportionate to his sources of income in various states, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, whose value is said to Rs 800 crore, reports said.

East Godavari deputy transport commissioner A Mohan was arrested and produced before the ACB court in Vijayawada on Thursday, according to the reports.

The ACB officials, led by its Central Investigation Unit DSP A Ramadevi, had started the raids on Mohan’s houses in nine places in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka on Thursday and continued their search on Friday as well.

Officials said Mohan has assets worth Rs 800 crore at market value, the document value of his properties is between Rs 100 crore and Rs 120 crore and that several bank lockers are yet to be opened and searched. Gold and silver jewellery and diamonds and other precious stones were also found in the houses of Mohan and his relatives.

“We found 2 kg of gold and 5 kg of silver. The other assets are 14 flats in and around Hyderabad, and one building at Panjagutta, a five-storeyed building in Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, about 50 acres of land in Nellore, Prakasam and Chittoor districts. We also found Rs. 83,000 cash,” Ramadevi told the New Indian Express.

“We are yet to calculate the value of the ornaments, the cash in his bank accounts and valuables in bank lockers,” she said.

They said Mohan had floated eight companies in the name of his elder daughter Tejasri to convert black money into white.

“We could not trace the offices of the companies as per the addresses in the documents,” Ramadevi was quoted as saying by the Deccan Chronicle.

Mohan had also recently transferred some property at Bellary in Karnataka to his name from his in-laws’ names, she said.

Ramadevi told the Chronicle that 12 lockers were yet to be opened and many of the documents and lockers were in Hyderabad and would be counted in the process of investigation.

She said that three DSPs including her, nine circle inspectors, sub-inspectors and nearly 10 personnel were conducting the raids. The raids were conducted at Vijayawada, Anantapur, Kadapa, Bellary, Medak, Nellore, Prakasam and some places in Hyderabad.